WATCH: A strange and unexpected side-effect of Metro Vancouver's hot real estate market is popping up more often these days. John Hua explains how the skyrocketing value of homes is actually affecting divorce settlements.

Once an appraisal is locked in, that’s it. In a recent case, the woman got the home and the man got the RRSPs. When the value of the home started to skyrocket, he went to court asking to pay less child support. The judge ruled against him.

“If the courts get involved trying to rejig settlements, you can just imagine — oh, the house is up, the house is down, oh, the house is up. It would be a huge mess,” Murphy said.

In this real estate market, assets have to be divided long before broken hearts have time to mend.